Not to get too far ahead of ourselves here, but the edit of "Sara" is a crime. I'm in the camp that Stevie's best Fleetwood Mac work is on Tusk, but if I had to pick a single, it'd be "Angel." It's so refreshing and would have set a different tone for the album experience out of the gate!
That is a good point - but the album is so different, I'm not sure what the natural opening song would be. Maybe one of the three or four Lindsey songs that sound similar (The Ledge, That's Enough For Me, Not That Funny)
Oh, it wore out its welcome. OK, I know that feeling... like when I was playing "Message in a Bottle" repeatedly at loud volume in my room and my mother knocked urgently on my door. I opened it and she said "Let me guess, he's sending out an SOS!!!!" ... I thought you meant it was physically worn out, I was going to suggest that perhaps your CD player needed a new needle...
Even some of the non-Lindsey songs come off as very "un-Mac like", thanks to Lindsey's strong involvement - for instance, I recall sitting in a car with a girl sometime in 1980, when "Think About Me" came on the radio. She asked if I knew who this was, and when I told her "It's Fleetwood Mac", she looked at me incredulously like I must be wrong!
It’s a nice soothing start to an album that is soon to veer madly all over the place. I have the Tusk boxset. I really enjoy the Hi Res stereo mix on there. Great album. Didn’t buy it until 1983 by which time people had begun to stop trashing it.
Its a beautiful song. Its a fairly typical Fleetwood Mac track and having it open the album does set expectations that the next track happily subverts. It also really comes alive in the surround mix where the bass kick in it is just wonderful.
Aside from "Sara" and the title track, I was unfamiliar with Tusk when I bought it in 1997. My initial impression was that the album was too long and that it lacked cohesion. Lindsey's songs sounded too raw and only half-finished while the remaining songs by Nicks and McVie sounded more fully realized. As I listened further, I came to understand what the Mac was aiming for. Ultimately, Tusk was a risky move at the time but ultimately proved to be the right move in the wake of the mega success of Rumours.
Yeah it's a crime alright cos it's still about 4 minutes too long. McVie's stuff on Tusk, Over & Over included, really show up Nicks IMO - McVie's songs are really understated and economical and they're uniformally about 100 times better than Nicks' songs, plus she could sing the phonebook and it would still sound great.
I'm going to try to follow this thread. Tusk is one of my favorite albums of all time by anyone, and it has been since the fall of 1979. My memory might be conflating things after 40-plus years, but I think I got the album right before fall break in 1979 (first semester of my sophomore year in college). It was a regular spin on my turntable that whole week, when no one was around to bother me. Before Tusk came out, I already had the lead 45, "Tusk" backed with "Never Make Me Cry." I'll try to talk more about both when we get there. Other than the bizarre hit song and its gentle flip, the 45 didn't reveal much. My very early 45 did not have a picture sleeve, possibly to avoid giving away elements of the LP cover. Later copies had one of two different picture sleeves. Also before Tusk came out, I heard the entire album on the radio, on that syndicated program that played entire albums in the era when home taping was coming into its own. Contrary to popular belief, this radio program was not a one-off; it was a weekly series that usually aired on FM rock stations late on Sunday nights. I don't know when the show debuted or when it left the air, but I remember it regularly in 1978-79. I distinctly remember hearing the George Harrison album on the show in early 1979, and hearing it made me want to buy the whole LP, which I did. Tusk was a special edition of the same show, because it aired the whole album; what was normally an hour-long show became at least an hour-and-a-half show to accommodate the album. Hearing the entire album made me want to buy it all the more! Personally, I think the hypothesis that this radio show had a negative effect on the initial sales of Tusk is way overblown. The entire recording industry was in its own Great Depression by the second half of 1979, and lavishly packaged double albums with a $15.98 list price ($9.98 in discount stores) weren't going to do as well in that environment, except perhaps if it was a Beatles reunion album.
Stevie Nicks' songs on this album are all among my favorite songs ever recorded. I think they are sensational. I'll save further thoughts for when they come up, but I think Stevie is extraordinary. I like every songwriter who ever wrote for Fleetwood Mac very much (with the exception of Billy Burnette).
I meant to add some additional information about the alternate versions available of this song. In the 2004 re-release there is an additional alternate version entitled "One More Time (Over and Over)". This version seems to be an even earlier take without any backing vocal at all by Christine and little closer to demo form. I'm brining this up as I found it a little frustrating that the big box from 2015 actually left off several versions of songs and there are several songs still exclusive to the 2004 set (Disc 2). I'm sure we'll get into that a bit, especially when it comes to "I Know I'm Not Wrong" LOL.
I think it is a brilliant album opener and creates a great atmosphere. A beautiful performance and recording. Also, an interesting and stark contrast to the previous two albums that opened with up-tempo Buckingham songs, "Over and Over" signaled that this was going to be a different Fleetwood Mac album.
Anyone who digs TUSK (a top 5 album for me) should give this a spin sometime. Great companion piece, and it's out there, man.
I love this song, so beautiful. I might enjoy the 2015 box set alt guitar take a tad more but can't fault the album version at all.
Fleetwood Mac have always had a bit of a strange history with me,My Dad is a huge fan so I would constantly hear them growing up and I'm not going to lie I kind of got a bit bored with Rumours and the S/T so I never really gave them a chance after that. However about 18 months ago I was reading a thread on this very forum discussing Tusk and it got me really interested in hearing it. I found a used copy online of the 2015 remaster CD for £2.50 and thought why not? After playing it a few times I was extremely impressed, it's a very ballsy album to release when everyone is expecting Rumours part 2 and putting out the title track as the first single is a surefire way to tell everybody that there won't be much like Go Your Own Way or Don't Stop on this one! Over And Over A great start and a slightly baffling way to open the album,if your not playing close attention it's the kind of song that go in one ear and out the other,however if you listen to it on headphones it reveals itself to an extremely well written and produced song. Lindsey provides some really nice subtle slide playing,Mick and John playing a solid groove serving the song really well and I love it when Stevie enters at about 3.08 with the harmony vocals behind her. Definitely a song that's right in Christine's wheelhouse but for the majority of the time she always does well with these sort of tracks. In relation to what people were saying that it's a strange choice to open the album, i would argue that there's not really one song that screams opening track,maybe the title track could be an effective opener with either Think About Me or Angel being track two to give a more traditional FM vibe and to show fans it won't be weird throughout the album. Anyways I'm loved all the comments so far and I'm looking forward to see how this thread will progress. Maybe it's time we took a trip to The Ledge
Side 1 Track 2 - "The Ledge" - Lindsey Buckingham Counting on my fingers Counting on my toes Slipping thru your fingers Watching how it grows You can love me baby but you can't walk out Someone oughta tell you what it's really all about Do you ever wonder Do you ever hate Six feet under Someone who can wait You can love me baby but you can't walk out Someone oughta tell you Oughta tell you what it's really all about You're never gonna to make it baby Oh I guess I'm gonna make you crazy Make it baby Make it baby Make it baby Counting on my fingers Counting on my toes Slipping thru your fingers Watching how it grows You can love me baby but you can't walk out Someone oughta tell you what it's really all about Buy another fixture Tell another lie Paint another picture See who's surprised You can love me baby but you can't walk out Someone oughta Someone oughta tell you what it's really all about You're never going to make it baby Oh you're never gonna make it crazy Oh you're never gonna Make it baby Make it baby Make it baby You can love me baby but you can't walk out You can love me baby but you can't walk out You can love me baby but you can't walk out Someone oughta someone oughta Someone oughta someone oughta Someone oughta someone oughta Someone oughta someone oughta You can love me baby but you can't walk out Someone oughta tell you Oughta tell you what it's really all about With a funky, de-tuned guitar, the real adventurous part of Tusk begins. In the 2015 liner notes, Lindsey states he believes he’s the only one on this track and it sounds it. The guitar is tuned in a radical way and the bass and drum are definitely not signature Fleetwood/McVie. Background vocals all appear to LB also. Rolling Stone Magazine named “The Ledge” number 47 of Fleetwood Mac’s 50 Best songs. Stevie is quoted in the entry: “Lindsey was really making a stand,” Stevie Nicks said of Tusk. And never so much as on “The Ledge,” a happily demented leap into post-punk primitivism and noise for its own sake. He recorded the song alone, turning his guitar down until it emitted an ugly rumble as he yammered another thinly veiled screed about his relationship with Nicks. “I was trying to find things that were off the radar,” he recalled of the song and others like it on the LP. “On this, that one guitar was covering everything. It was a concept piece on that level. There was nothing for John or Christine to do.” Lindsey doesn’t give much in the way of hints about the lyrics in the liner notes. He admits he was going more for sounds, but there is definitely a current of “if you are going to take me on, be ready to not leave because you’ll get nowhere on your own”. I really enjoy this song, Lindsey’s experiments with sounds (you’ve likely heard the stories – using Kleenex boxes for drums, singing on the floor, -flat on his back, recording many parts at home,; some in his bathroom etc..) really provide for some interesting, quirky tunes. This song really signals “this isn’t your Mother/Father’s Fleetwood Mac” LOL. The song was rehearsed in St. Louis in October, 1979 for the upcoming tour, but it does not appear to have ever been played live (or at least it did not make the cut on the 1980 live album, nor the two live discs released in 2015). Below is a YouTube clip of the St. Louis rehearsal which sounds promising (it's coupled here with IKINW) – wonder why they felt they should not include in the show? Let's hold on comments of IKINW for now An alternate version "The Ledge" was released on the second bonus in the 2004 2 CD set and this version appears to be the same alternate version included in the 2015 box (Disc 3 – “The Alternate Tusk”). On a passive listen it’s hard to pick up many differences from the master, but maybe someone else can elaborate on that. What does everyone think of this song? I’m wondering what it was like for people buying this album thinking they were getting “Rumours 2” and then this little blast of sound came on right after the familiar sounds of “Over & Over”. How about some comments on the lyrics - more to it than I'm talking about? Is this directed at Stevie?
Christine on guitar ! who knew ? That sounded fine, they should've performed it once in a while. Isn't TUSK the first time the same FM lineup made a third straight album together ? Yes, I do believe it is ......
I love "The Ledge"! Such a quirky, fast-paced track. So much fun to sing along to! Love the sound of the guitar on it too. I don't think I've ever seen or heard a live version of it, so thanks for that! Christine on guitar! I do think Lindsey is the only one on this song but it's on Tusk that you begin to realize that when Lindsey tinkers with the speed of his own voice (and he does), he can sound like Stevie.
Thanks for this thread. I need it. This is an album I have owned since day one, but have never really appreciated to its fullest. Following along now.
When I first played this 8-track in 1979, the first track brought me in, then “The Ledge” had me by the neck. I was ready for this, having just discovered New Wave our in the Midwest. The song is quirky, breathless, perfect. Sounds like a madman about to take it all off the rails and I’ve been hooked from the first listen. extra question: does anyone know the order of the songs/placement on the 8-track? Since that’s how I fell in love with the album. Edit: found a photo online it looks like the 8–track has the same running order as the LP. I’ll have to check closely for sure.
Thanks. It’s not the same order as the LP. “That’s All...” and “That’s Enough...” are back to back on the 8-track — for one difference.
From Wikipedia: “In addition to the above outtakes, several other Nicks songs were demoed for Tusk: "Love You Enough" (unreleased), "Beauty And The Beast" (The Wild Heart), "Smile At You" (Say You Will), "Secret Love" (In Your Dreams), "The Dealer" and "Watch Chain" (24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault).[citation needed]” I didn’t realize this was released, but are the alt. from the deluxe box CDs I have? Also, at first I thought the Nicks demos listed were on that Record Store Day release. Uggh — teaching HS kids during this pandemic is messing with my mind.
